PFC Chapter 167 Kneeling and Apologizing
Chapter 167 Kneeling and Apologizing
After Concubine De was dragged away, the Eighth Princess was also coaxed by Concubine Guo. No one spoke in the palace, only the Eighth Princess was babbling in baby language that no one could understand.
Normally, the situation was so awkward that Queen Gu should have found a reason to dismiss the morning meeting. But she didn't. She just sat there calmly. No one else dared to ask to leave first, and they just stayed there.
Lu Lingxi looked around and saw that everyone was sitting there with nothing to do. The tea in his hand was hardly touched. He thought: Yanchun Palace is still not hospitable to guests. How can there be only tea but no melon seeds as snacks? We should prepare some melon seeds. We can crack some melon seeds in between chatting and watching the show. It would be perfect if we crack some melon seeds and have some tea when our mouths are dry.
Lu Lingxi was struggling over whether to make any suggestions.
Queen Gu looked at her dazedly, and finally spoke, "Why didn't Crown Princess wear the red coral bracelet that mother gave you a few days ago? That was a bracelet that mother specially went to Zhuguo Temple to ask for. Wearing it will surely bring you many children. Don't let mother down. Yu'er is already twenty-five years old, and there are many concubines and beauties in the backyard, but no children. You, the mistress of the Crown Prince's Mansion, must pay more attention to it."
Lu Lingxi couldn't help rolling his eyes. If there really was half an offspring, that would be weird.
But she still smiled and said, "What the Queen Mother said is true? To get forty or fifty strings at a time, the Queen Mother must have spent a lot of effort. But the bright red bracelets don't match my daughter-in-law's daily clothes, and they don't look good."
Queen Gu pretended to be kind and said with a smile: "Child, as a royal concubine, it is your responsibility to continue the family line. How can you shirk your responsibility with the excuse of whether your appearance is good or not?"
Lu Lingxi pretended not to understand and asked humbly, "How can this be called shirking responsibility? My daughter-in-law just loves beauty, and she didn't say she didn't want the Prince's Mansion to have an heir. If my daughter-in-law said, 'When my mother wears this bracelet, she will give my father more heirs and give us more brothers and sisters, which is also to continue the royal family's heirs.' This is called shirking responsibility."
When Queen Gu heard this, she could no longer hold back. Her eyes were as big as bells. She pointed at Lu Lingxi and scolded him, "How dare you! What nonsense are you talking about?"
Lu Lingxi said innocently: "Daughter-in-law didn't say anything nonsense just now. You accused her of shirking responsibility, so she had to explain herself."
Queen Gu took a few deep breaths to suppress her anger. She thought that achieving the goal at hand was more important, so she spoke without any emotion: "Since you have no intention of shirking responsibility, you just wear the bracelet every day. When you get pregnant in the future, you have to thank me."
At this moment, Queen Gu was so angry that she didn't even want to call herself Lu Lingxi's mother.
Lu Lingxi continued to play dumb and said, "My daughter-in-law is stupid. There is one thing I have been puzzled about, so I happened to ask you today. Giving birth is not just the woman's business. When you asked for this bracelet at Zhuguo Temple, did the Bodhisattva clearly indicate whether it was for the man or the woman? Or should both men and women wear it? And why didn't you prepare bracelets for my second brother and his sisters? I heard some bad rumors about my second brother a few days ago. If the Qi Wangfu doesn't have more heirs soon, I'm afraid these rumors will be hard to break."
Hearing this, Princess Gu Ying'er of Qi felt her heart tighten. She looked carefully at Queen Gu's angry face, and glared at Lu Lingxi fiercely, but she was used to being cautious and timid, so she didn't dare to say a word.
Queen Gu was so angry that her teeth were broken. Of course, she knew what rumors Lu Lingxi was talking about. The fact that the dignified King Qi lingered in the brothels was already criticized, and she was even allowed to spread such rumors by that lowly bitch. How could she not hate him? She wanted to secretly arrest that bitch, let her clear the matter, and then let her wish she was dead but could not live. But this person just disappeared out of thin air, and she could not be found.
In any case, Queen Gu didn't believe that her son, at such a young age, would suddenly develop that kind of hidden illness. Besides, she already had a grandson, Hong'er, so how could there be a problem?
So at this moment, Queen Gu could still calmly refute: "How can the Crown Princess be like a village woman, believing everything she hears? Rumors stop at the wise. Your second brother already has a legitimate son, so this rumor is not credible. The Crown Prince is older, but he still has no children. The Crown Princess should worry more about the affairs of the Crown Prince's Mansion and listen less to gossip."
Lu Lingxi thought that it was useless to argue about these things now. She couldn't just go home and have a child with Nan Wangyu immediately because of a fit of anger to prove that he was more fertile than Nan Jingye, right? Whether the two men could have children had little to do with her, and she didn't want to be brainwashed into a reproductive machine. But she couldn't admit defeat verbally. She still remembered that she came to the palace today specifically to make trouble for Queen Gu.
So she pretended to be wronged and afraid, and said, "I know I am stupid, and my mother passed away early. There is no one to guide me in housework. I don't do it well, and I always make my mother unhappy! I will apologize to my mother now."
As he said this, he stood up and knelt in front of Queen Gu. Chunhong and Liulu also knelt down.
After kneeling down, Lu Lingxi did not stop, "Although I know I am stupid, I have heard that the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. I and my brothers and sisters are all one family. Naturally, I have to care about anything. Is it that the second prince has set up his own mansion, and I can't even mention it. If I mention it, I will be listening to gossip? Now the Prince's Mansion has to give way to the Qi Wang Mansion in everything. I, the Crown Princess, can only be stepped on by the Qi Wang. I am afraid that my husband and I can only give up the world to him in the future, right?"
Queen Gu was impatient and was accusing others again. The Crown Princess was really good at accusing others.
So he didn't ask her to get up, but directly asked, "What nonsense are you talking about? What do you want? Do you want the Princess of Qi to hand over all the affairs of the Prince of Qi's Mansion to you, the eldest sister-in-law, so that she won't trample on you, the Crown Princess? It's ridiculous! You said that you are so stupid because you didn't have your mother to teach you. Now that I, your mother-in-law, teach you, how much do you listen to? I say one word, and you have ten words waiting for me. Is this your attitude of humbly seeking advice? I think even if your mother didn't die giving birth to you, she would be pissed to death by you!"
When Lu Lingxi heard this, she raised her head quickly. It was the first time she was really angry at Queen Gu. The words were too vicious. She wanted to go up and grab Queen Gu's head and beat her up.
She took a few deep breaths and tried to stay calm. In order to maintain the appearance of respecting Queen Gu, she knelt on the ground so that Queen Gu could not see her expression and said in a crying voice: "Mother, I know I was wrong. I will not dare to say anything more in the future. Please don't talk about me."
Queen Gu saw that she was sincere in admitting her mistakes. She picked up the tea beside her, took a sip, and said leisurely, "I hope you really know you are wrong."
After saying this, he did not ask her to stand up, but said to the others: "After all this, I am also tired. Let's stop here today and go home, okay?"
After Queen Gu left first, Concubine Guo handed the Eighth Princess to the nurse and went forward to help Lu Lingxi: "Crown Princess, please stop kneeling and stand up."